I have a massive confession to make. I may lose your respect. That’s if you had any in the first place hahaha

Wow, longest title ever! For me at least.

Ok, deep breath…… Big sigh….. Gulp

I don’t know how to play 40K!

Cue dramatic music…

DUN DUN DUUUUUUNNnnnn……

My friends and I have played it but we made up very simple rules ourselves. It was lots of fun but any serious player wouldn’t be able to stop laughing at us if they overheard us. In fact the closest I’ve ever got to actually playing the real game is when I recently played Space Crusade.

I love the 40K world, always have and in recent times I’ve grown to love Fantasy (AOS) too. I think the reason I have never played is due to four reasons.

There’s so many bloody rules that I feel a little overwhelmed by it all.

Patience has never been a strong point of mine. It’s got better as I’ve grwon older wiser and mostly slower.

I haven’t really had anyone to play with. My best mate generally humours me with it all haha. I do have one friend who was into it but I guess he grew out of it.

So many rules. Seriously!

I really, really would like to learn it. However I don’t want to join a club and go to games nights. I’m a people person, don’t get me wrong, but I’m a people person all day with my work. When I’m home, after I’ve done the Dad and Husband things I just want to lurk about in the dark with my little plastic men. Haha that’s a really creepy visual actually. What I mean is, I’m quite happy sitting at my table with my little overhead lamp sculpting and painting and losing myself in my imagination. I do aspire to learn one day. Just like I want to learn how to ride a motorbike, go and see all the castles throughout Europe, properly learn to play guitar (I can play but it’s more power chord stuff that any old punk can play), have my own business, record the ever allusive second album, etc etc.

I have tried to force my best mate to get into it but he has close to a thousand children now plus his own hobbies.

I have watched youtubes for beginners etc and I kind of just zone out haha. Then I Google Image something like Adeptus Arbites haha.

In an ideal world Id have a pal who was a lot smarter and patient than me who learnt all the rules, invited me over for beer and a game and taught me in person.

Heres a question for you.

I found Space Crusade to be quite fast paced and easy to grasp. Could I use the same rules for a game of 40k on a grander scale? Eg full on terrain and mass armies.

I hope I haven’t lost any of you after my confession hehe. At least I was honest and at least I am a 40K admirer and hobby enthusiast.

31 thoughts on “I have a massive confession to make. I may lose your respect. That’s if you had any in the first place hahaha”

No shame in it mate – I’ve played a handfull of games since 7th ed came out, but I don’t really find 40k that enjoyable tbh! There – I said it! I much prefer Rogue Trader for sci-fi, and Frostgrave is pretty decent for Fantasy… small & compact rather than great big money-gobbling armies.

I did join the local games club but drifted away after about a year. However… while there, I met a load of gamers – kept in touch with some but not others… the ones I kept in touch with are the ones I like as human beings, and these are now my gaming buddies/inspiration gurus… Moral of the story is go join a club, get acquainted with likeminded folks, and then develop those friendships… the club then becomes very much optional.

I ignored 40K for decades. Then I played and was hooked. I love the fact that, as in World War II, you constantly have to shift your army structure and weapons to deal with the different threats that opponents bring to the table. I love the importance of your original deployment. And I love that, unlike say American Civil War fighting, you have more unit choices than infantry, cavalry, and artillery.

I didn’t always feel this way. I was a bit of a historical wargamer snob. But now I’ve gone nuts for the game. Just shows you the lucky times we live in that there are so many choices, as we all have different aspects of the hobby that appeal to us.

Oh, and try some small skirmish games–something with a narrative to them. That might scale down the learning curb on 40K. Play a commando raid–so there are fewer rules to deal with. Then build up.

I started out playing 40K about 28 years ago, but soon drifted off of it as I discovered other games. I’m with you on one thing simple is better in my book as well, so my advice, no not advice lots of people play and love 40K so if that’s your bag more power too you, But if you just want a fun game that’s simple to learn and you can add what you want to it when you want a good place to start if “Free wargames rules” @…..

i have no idea if Space Crusade would work at army level but it would be interesting to find out. Also, I don’t know the rules of 40K either – at least, not beyond the very basics. I doubt many people do, except rules lawyers!

Thanks Terry or do you prefer Mr ShitHole? Haha. I reckon I’ll give the whole space ️Crusade thing a go on a more epic scale. A slow build up though. A few Skirmishes first etc. I’m also going to look into the free games thing Roger suggested. I’ll post any progress.

Yep, back when I played Rogue Trader rules, my friends and I only gleaned the basics from the book, and made up the rest based on the situation and what felt right. It was the most fun I’ve ever had with the game, or any version of it since.

D’yer know…I’ve never played 40k. I realise that within the circles we’re in, it’s a bit like saying you’ve never seen Star Wars but there you have it! Also I get what you mean – I spend my working life being a people person with an eye on the detail. If I didn’t have two close friends who I game with, I doubt that I’d join a club or walk into a shop and find a game…I certainly wouldn’t use up any remaining brain space with rules. I’ve been meaning to run a game of Cthulhu for years but given that I can’t remember the rules I’m going to just run a Cthulhu-feeling game…with Fighting Fantasy rules.

Lol. Call of Cthulhu – a Gothic horror role-playing game set in the 1920s. Aliens, dark cults, insanity – all the good things. Based on books by H P Lovecraft (and others). If life allows you reading time, Lovecraft’s worth a punt.

You just summed up my whole problem with 40k – love the lore, but the 7th ed game is just a bit meh really. That is what happens when you have 20+ years of crusty rules fudging layer on layer. It might be the best game in the world, but it takes a horrible amount of time to get a vague familiarity with the whole ruleset. I keep looking at adapting alternative rulesets but that also feels a bit too much like hard work . . . Did you ever play Advanced Space Crusade – I remember that was a relatively clean ruleset with a bit more depth than the regular version.

I’ve never played properly either mate. Tried to learn the rules a while back but never got into it. In my opinion they’re much too abstract for what they aim to represent. Perhaps if I’d stuck with it I’d have become more used to it but I found there was nothing immersive or tactical about it. I may have an absolute horde of models but I’m really just about the painting and converting. The main thing is having fun with it 🙂

It seems to me like there’s a lot of luck involved. I love chess and to me that’s a lot more tactical. I think if I just have a base structure and then make up rules as we go along we’ll have a lot of fun. So when you put units together in your modelling is it per the rules?

Mostly but not always. I tend to use the rules as a guide but more and more I want to go where my creativity takes me. I don’t want to stifle my ideas by bending them to someone else’s rules and frankly, I can’t imagine the guys in Nottingham want that either! 🙂

I like the people and community on WordPress, if you’d posted this on the forum Im sure people would be screaming HERETIC everywhere.

Back before games workshop updated the website, they had a page slightly buried with the FAQs that said something along the lines of; This is a game and your own hobby, work with your opponent and play the game how you want to play it. etc. Its something that I wish they kept because its a good reminder that this is your own game, if you have someone you’re playing with that will let you house rule a bunch of things to make it easier or quicker, thats fine – people can and will tell you otherwise but thats worth shit.

Its your hobby so do what you will with it and dont feel shame about it. If you want to learn how to play the rules a bit better then ask lots of questions to people around on the net with things you dont understand, or watch battle reports. Pick Rule sections that you dont understand and add them gradually – Myself and Luna didnt add Morale Checks for probably more than 6months when we started playing, even now we’re a little loosey goosey with em at times.

But if you’re happy with the way you currently play it with your friend, then keep playing it like that.

I like 40k because of all the rules, all the units feel like they have a different affect on the battlefield, I really like Formations for the same reasons, and it often gives space to come up with custom missions and rules for games.

40k isn’t really that hard to learn, you just need to start playing on a small scale and work your way up the points levels.

When I got back into 40k (begin of fifth edition) the game wasn’t really the I had left behind (first edition – Rouge Trader). I learnt the rules by playing solo games. That is a good way. A few simple units to learn the mechanics of moving, shooting and assaulting. How to move you models, how to hit with your attacks and how to wound with hits are the essentials of the game. Once you know that, you can play 40k. Pretty much anyway.

When you want to add more specialized units, vehicles, psykers, flyers, and more you just add them one by one and learn the rules as you go.

I feel your pain. In my current group, I’m always the guy who has to learn the rules and then teach everyone else.

In The Emperor’s Name might be up your alley. I’ve never played it myself, but it is skirmish sized, has a good reputation, and is a free download.https://iten-game.org/

As for 40k, I haven’t played in a few editions myself, and in a lot of ways the way the game (rules locating and purchasing) has gone through 6th and now 7th I find it a bit offputting. I do plan to get back to it again sometime, probably with a hybrid based around 3rd and 5th with newer elements added in (like new units, etc).

I am only vaguely cognisant of rules in… anything I play, really. I have the basics down, the things which haven’t substantially changed since third edition (the best one) but minutiae have no power to hold my attention or remain in my ailing noggin. I think it comes from being a DM and obsessed with flow over accuracy or even realism – provided the game keeps going forward and nobody feels hard done by, who gives a toss?

I’ll give you a game if you’re ever in South Wales. Not seventh edition though. I haven’t been arsed with it. Sixth was fine as far as I can tell.